


Tasting Stars

by sullyintheskywdiamonds



Category: Van Halen
Genre: M/M, angsty, mentions of drug use
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-11-23
Updated: 2015-11-23
Packaged: 2018-05-03 01:29:30
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 809
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5271458
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sullyintheskywdiamonds/pseuds/sullyintheskywdiamonds
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Dave has an issue with drugs. Eddie stays by his bedside.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Tasting Stars

**Author's Note:**

> I think I wrote this one night when I didn't have wifi and it turned out quite okay? Really angsty though. Mentions of drug use and rehab.

Dave is tired. He's tired from all the tours, the booze and the drugs. Most of all he's tired of seeing Eddie. 

He knows it's wrong. Looking at Eddie and feeling dizzy isn't exactly okay if you're David Lee Roth. Right? Right. 

But he can't help it. Eddie is all he ever thinks about nowadays and that makes him turn to drugs a lot more than usual.

Alex talks to him after a concert gone horribly wrong. Dave doesn't listen. Eddie looks concerned for him but Dave knows it's just friendly. It isn't the concern he wants, needs. 

*  
Dave ends up in a hospital one day. His body rejecting the poison he pumps through it daily. 

He's in and out of conciousness and doesn't realise what's happening. He remembers a distinctive smell though. 

The smell of Eddies favorite gum mixed with cigarettes. Dave hopes he didn't hallucinate it.

*  
"How are you?" 

Eddies voice is quiet but soothing. Dave opens his eyes and doesn't know how many days it's been.

"I'm good. My arms move," he flexes his fingers "My voice is there," he croaks out a lyric from Atomic Punk and makes Eddie laugh "I'm good to go."

"You uh," Eddie lowers his head, his hair hiding away anything that'd help Dave see what he's trying to say.

"You can't." Eddie swallows so loud that Dave can hear him.

"What? Is the tour over already?" Dave tries joking but now he notices a few familiar faces staring at him through the glass.

"No umm.. Well yes. You're going to rehab." Eddie looks him in the eye pointedly and Dave laughs. He stops to see if Eddies cracking up too.

He's not.

Dave continues to laugh manically until hes pumped full of sedatives.

*  
He wakes up to a humming sound. It's probably 3 or 4 am and Dave doesn't know if he's in rehab yet or still stuck in the hospital. A few tentative touches and he relaxes.

The hospital.

He cracks an eye open and sees a worn out Eddie humming some tune to keep himself awake. 

"Hey," Dave sounds like he hasn't spoken in 70 years.

"You're back!" Eddie jokes and then calms himself down when a nurse passing by gives them a look.

"Yeah I am. So uh..rehab?" Dave pushes himself up a little. Waiting to hear more about his death sentence.

Eddie comes closer and fluffs up his pillows. Dave smells the gum again. He hopes he doesn't look too sick. He's always wanted to look good in front of Eddie. 

"Yeah. Tomorrow noon." Dave locks his gaze with Eddie's and the look he sees there makes him feel so incredibly small.

"Where's everyone else?" Dave wants to wrap himself up in Eddie before he has to go.

"Sleeping or drinking. I don't really know." Eddie laughs and grabs some water that Dave greedily grips from his hands.

"How long have I been like this?" Dave notices how his chest has been weirdly shaved and grimaces.

"Two weeks." Eddie won't look at him and Dave wants to apologize. But he doesn't.

"Wow." 

"Yeah." 

*  
Dave tries falling asleep again but fails. He pretends to have a nightmare so a snoring Eddie would wake up. 

It's probably rehab time soon.

"Hey can you uh, can you come sleep with me?" Dave doesn't look at Eddie, his back turned towards him.

He hears the chair move and thinks Eddie's gone for real now. 

Instead he feels warm hands pressed on his sides and holds back a sigh of contempt and relief. Eddie shuffles closer, his arms now embracing Dave and gripping him tightly to his chest. 

"You feel weird without chest hair." Dave snorts and they fall asleep again. 

Dave tries to remember this moment as good as he can before sleep wins him over.

*  
The next morning Dave wakes before Eddie. He hears shuffling in the hallways and decides to do something stupid under the false pretenses of sleep.

He's nose to nose with Eddie anyway and It isn't hard. Just pressing a little bit closer and kissing his dry lips. It feels weird and almost toxic. Like Eddie's lips will burn a hole right through him If he continues. 

He kisses Eddies nose then and his cheeks and swipes his tongue over Eddies lips before he pretends to be asleep again.

Eddies awake soon after that. His noises of confusion hard to hear through Daves heartbeat pounding in his ears.

He doesn't say anything later though. Dave wonders If he knew what happened and ignored it or If he'll never have a clue.

*  
A day after Dave's released from rehab he promises himself to move forward. Later that day he hears about Eddies wife being pregnant. 

It doesn't hurt nearly as much but Dave decides to quit anyway. It's time for him to shine after all.


End file.
